Sign in here if you like Michigan over 6 wins...

[FairWarning]

...and tell me why?

<table class="commonTable schedule" xmlns:eci-util-formatdate="urn:eci-util-formatdate" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr class="rowOdd home"><td class="col1">Sat, Sep 5</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Western Michigan</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">3:30 p.m.</td><td class="col8">ABC/ESPN2</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven home"><td class="col1">Sat, Sep 12</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Notre Dame</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">3:30 p.m.</td><td class="col8">ABC</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowOdd home"><td class="col1">Sat, Sep 19</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Eastern Michigan</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">Noon</td><td class="col8">Big Ten Network</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven home"><td class="col1">Sat, Sep 26</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Indiana</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">Noon</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowOdd away"><td class="col1">Sat, Oct 3</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Michigan State</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">East Lansing, Mich.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven away"><td class="col1">Sat, Oct 10</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Iowa</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Iowa City, Iowa</td><td class="col7">7 p.m. CDT</td><td class="col8">ABC or ESPN</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowOdd home"><td class="col1">Sat, Oct 17</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Delaware State</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven home"><td class="col1">Sat, Oct 24</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Penn State</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowOdd away"><td class="col1">Sat, Oct 31</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Illinois</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Champaign, Ill.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven home"><td class="col1">Sat, Nov 7</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Purdue</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowOdd away"><td class="col1">Sat, Nov 14</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Wisconsin</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Madison, Wis.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TBA</td><td class="col9"></td><td class="col10"></td><td class="col11">
</td><td class="col12">
</td><td class="col13">
</td></tr><tr class="rowEven home"><td class="col1">Sat, Nov 21</td><td class="col2">Football</td><td class="col3">Ohio State</td><td class="col4">
</td><td class="col5">
</td><td class="col6">Ann Arbor, Mich.</td><td class="col7">TBA</td><td class="col8">TB</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Well let's see.

Western Mich. A MAC team. Win or else... WIN.
Notre Dame. Simple. LOSS.
Eastern Mich. A MAC Team. Easy. WIN.
Indiana. This team should be a MAC team. WIN
At Michigan State. Not this year. LOSS
At Iowa. See the above. LOSS
Delaware State. Pathetic scheduling. WIN
Penn St. Not this time. LOSS
At Illinois. Close, but a LOSS
Purdue. See Indiana. WIN
At Wisconsin. A season breaker. LOSS
Ohio State.This may be clower than some think, but a LOSS.

That looks like 5-7 to me. If you are thinking about playing Michigan over 6 wins, a definate PASS in my book.

 

[goblue12]

Basically you're betting on Michigan beating Notre Dame (home) or Michigan State (away).

They have 5 gimmes (Delaware State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Indiana, Purdue), and 5 pretty sure bet losses (Ohio State, Penn State, at Illinois, at Wisconsin, at Iowa). I wouldn't touch this bet with a ten foot pole. There is a very good chance Michigan sucks again rolling out a true FR QB.

 

[FairWarning]

No guarantee they beat WMU either.

I took the under 6+130.

 

[FairWarning]

To show equal billing to my beloved Irish, I cannot play Over 9 wins. Weis will fuck this up somehow.

 

[goblue12]

No guarantee they beat WMU either.

I took the under 6+130.

Nah, that game is a lock. Just too many bodies to replace for Western to pull off an upset of this magnitude early in the season. Last year they would have beat us though.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

You lost at home to Toledo last year. If a 3-9 MAC team can beat you at home, anyone can. Western Michigan's offense returns pretty much intact. Their defense is really going to suffer though. Michigan can gain a lot of confidence because Western Michigan will have a lousy defense. They will need it when they host the Irish the following week. I think Michigan wins this game, but there is no such thing as a lock in Michigan Football anymore. Not until they can prove themselves.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Never thought I would say this but that first game against WMU should be scarey to Michigan fans. Assuming the promising freshman starts, anything could happen in regards to turnovers and mistakes. He's supposed to be good but don't expect him to be as good as Pryor was out of the gate.

 

[UoweDucks]

I expect him to be better than Pryor.

There. I said it.


@)

 

[BigdaddyQH]

I expect him to be better than Pryor.

There. I said it.


@)

Have you seen him play?

 

[UoweDucks]

Yes I have.

I invite anyone to watch the film of Tate Forcier in HS and compare it that of Pryor and not come to the same conclusion. Forcier was by far the more polished passer and an equally competent runner.

 

[lionking]

r u serious?? tate forcier better than pryor?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAH

you do know that tate is about 5'9" and weighs around 165lbs right, he is going to get KILLED in the big ten

 

[UoweDucks]

r u serious?? tate forcier better than pryor?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAH

you do know that tate is about 5'9" and weighs around 165lbs right, he is going to get KILLED in the big ten

You are off on his measurements by a large margin and while he may get killed in the Big10 it is my opinion that he will end up the better qb of the two.

From spring game. I am only an interested observer but I liked what I saw here:

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[TOOTIGHT]

Ducks you probably know more about Forcier since he's from the west coast so I'm very interested to see what this kid does now. I have heard big things about his spring play and enrolling early will help in preparation but I still doubt any freshman QB until proven otherwise. He will have a good RB to help carry the load and has good WR's though.

Pryor on the other hand is a little different in my opinion not just because he was the top ranked recruit but the guy is somewhat freakish. He can simply pick up 15 yards on a 3rd and 10 and it doesn't even look like he's trying. You just don't see guys come along very often with his size and speed that can play QB. He may not have thrown the ball too much last year but you have to be impressed with his decision making for a freshman. Aside from the Penn St. game he made a huge impact his 1st year.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Just saw that youtube clip and I'm def. impressed, at least now I know what the spring buzz was about.

 

[goblue12]

You lost at home to Toledo last year. If a 3-9 MAC team can beat you at home, anyone can. Western Michigan's offense returns pretty much intact. Their defense is really going to suffer though. Michigan can gain a lot of confidence because Western Michigan will have a lousy defense. They will need it when they host the Irish the following week. I think Michigan wins this game, but there is no such thing as a lock in Michigan Football anymore. Not until they can prove themselves.

Their offense loses 3 of their Top-4 receiving targets. In addition, they have never averaged more than 4.0 YPC when playing against a AQ team with Hiller + West. It's all on Hiller in this one. If he plays well and Arnheim and Nunez prove to be great replacements for the departed receiving targets, they have the ability to upset Michigan. I'm not saying they can't beat Michigan because WMU has upset an AQ team in each of the previous three seasons (UVA in 06, Iowa in 07, Illinois in 08), I just don't believe that this is the one that they steal (they play IU the following week and MSU in November, they will win one of those).

Just too many veteran starters on both sides of the ball that WMU needs to replace for me to predict an upset. The majority of their core (Simmons, Julien, Ledbetter, Delmas, Biggers, Wilson, McCornell, Marshall, Davidson) graduated. Unlike most fans, I will gladly bet against my own team. I did have Utah in a $100 parlay (I don't bet much $$$, just a broke college student here) Week 1 with Florida and USC.

Good spread bet assuming Vegas makes Michigan a 2 TD favorite, but I wouldn't lay too much money on WMU ML.

And don't say there isn't such thing as a "lock" in Michigan FB anymore. Ohio State ML is the lock of all locks. Problem is you're getting horrific value.

 

[UoweDucks]

Ducks you probably know more about Forcier since he's from the west coast so I'm very interested to see what this kid does now. I have heard big things about his spring play and enrolling early will help in preparation but I still doubt any freshman QB until proven otherwise. He will have a good RB to help carry the load and has good WR's though.

Pryor on the other hand is a little different in my opinion not just because he was the top ranked recruit but the guy is somewhat freakish. He can simply pick up 15 yards on a 3rd and 10 and it doesn't even look like he's trying. You just don't see guys come along very often with his size and speed that can play QB. He may not have thrown the ball too much last year but you have to be impressed with his decision making for a freshman. Aside from the Penn St. game he made a huge impact his 1st year.

I followed both he and Pryor's recruitment closely. As an Oregon fan I would have been very happy had either chosen to be a duck. You are right on Pryor, freakish is a good word to describe him. That said, I am very curious to watch his development, particularly his passing game. In a word it is pedestrian. He desperately needs to be coached up here. As you can see from this video and those of his HS exploits Forcier is head and shoulders above Pryor in that aspect.

I think it is also clear that Forcier is much bigger than 5'9" 165....

 

[Conan]

Completely agree with you about the difference in passing. You usually don't see very much the first year so this will be a very telling time.

I haven't a clue what Tressel has going for Pryor in the passing game. I probably shouldn't be judgmental about the QB coaching there but I do know he'd have had all the help he needed at Oregon or several of the other schools that recruited him. I don't think it matters how many *'s a kid has going in, every recruit is raw material that can either be developed or wasted.

Wow, and to think he has to match up to USC's offense and play against their defense in W1. I think the sophomore jinx is just wating in the wings for Pryor because OSU hasn't much offensive experience returning to support him this season. He won't get far being a one-man show.

But the pundits have OSU ranked #6 many places. Obviously they either know something or think they know something I don't. It must be their defense and they are banking heavily on Pryor to improve. A little like the spot Masoli finds himself in but without Kelly.

I could have said that a little more "blountly."

 

[goblue12]

I think it is also clear that Forcier is much bigger than 5'9" 165....

He is ... but not by much. I saw him numerous times at the OBL on campus, and at 5'10" 200 lb, he isn't much bigger than me.

 

[letsgohoosiers]

Dumb bet. They'll win 6 and you'll gain nothing but having your money tied up for 5 months.